Where Your Loyalties Lie
by fanfictionmakermachine
Summary: My take on Lena's character and her relationship with her aunt and the Duck/McDuck family. Some scars are just too deep to heal.


"Bye, Lena! See you soon!" Webby waved enthusiastically as her friend walked away from Mcduck mansion.

"Yeah! In three days!" Lena waved back.

"You sure you won't forget?" Webby asked, sounding a little nervous. Lena stop to give her a reassuring smile.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, Webs." This seemed to work as Webby returned to her usual happy expression as she turned away and went back to the mansion. Lena watched her go, then turned around and went her way. If only she knew how much she meant that statement.

Lena headed back to the shore where she was usually hanging out, knelt down and took out her talisman from under her shirt.

"Summoned spirit from the dark,  
show thyself before this arc.  
Free thy dread soul from its prison,  
Once more shall thee be risen!"

No sooner than she finished reciting that poem, her shadow moved directly in front of her and turned to the image of her aunt, Magica de Spell. Lena could only imagine how thrilled she'll be when she hears the news she had.

"Aunt Magica, the time has come. The McDucks leave on another adventure in three days and they invited me to tag along." she reported. Her aunt's expression turned into a sinister smile.

"Excellent work, Lena." she praised. "It's taken longer than I would have preferred, but better late than never."

"Thank you. I told you saving Beakly was a good call. There's no way this would have happened if I didn't earn their trust to this point." Magica's smile loosened. She hated to admit when she was wrong, but credit has to be given when it's due.

"Yes, I must admit I was skeptical about that, but in the end you were right. You have done well." Lena smiled and it was one of the few times her smile was genuine, she was happy that her aunt was pleased with her. "Now we'll finally have the chance to get close to Scrooge and get his dime to set me free." Lena was slightly confused by this.

"We? But I thought I was supposed to do it on my own. Given your... condition."

"Never underestimate magic, my dear niece. Especially my magic." Magica told her. "The spell that will allow me to leave your shadow will still work without Scrooge's dime, but without it I can only materialize in the physical realm for a short time, but my power shall be at it's full extent. All you have to do is cast this spell so I can get to Scrooge, get his dime and make the effect permanent. You don't even have to blow your cover. Only if I'm unable to get the dime on my own, but then you shall have the element of surprise." she explained."Our success is guaranteed."

"I understand." Lena replied dutifully. "I won't let you down, Aunt Magica." Magica smiled back at her and for the first time since she can remember, that smile seemed to be without a hint of malice.

"Of that, I am certain. Now let's go. We have three days for you to learn and practice the spell. And fair warning, it is a difficult one that requires absolute concentration and the right emotions to fuel it while being cast. It will be an exhausting experience."

"I understand. I am ready for anything." Lena replied, much to Magica's glee.

"Good girl. Now let us begin." Lena tucked the talisman back under her shirt and went to the usual spot where she practiced magic. One where no one will disturb them.

Contrary to what many would think, Lena had no doubts about where her loyalties lie. She wasn't born on the streets. Long ago, she used to be just like any normal kid of her age, like Webby and the boys right now. Except for the living in luxury thing.

She had parents. Gentle, loving parents and a nice home where she grew up. She wasn't a street punk, a rebel with a smart mouth and zero ducks to give. She was just Lena. An average girl who made friends, went to school and cared about her family like they cared about her.

But then the McDucks ruined everything.

Lena's family had a small tailoring business in town that was their main source of income. But a few years ago, they started to earn less and less money through it due to the strong completion that slowly appeared throughout Duckberg. And what do you know, most of the competition was owned by Scrooge McDuck. As the family business was about to go bankrupt, they were approached by Scrooge's company who offered to buy it from them because the greedy, insatiable bastard wanted to expand even further. It was like a virus that consumed everything in it's path in order to spread.

Needless to say, they could only sell their businesses for pennies which ran out quickly and the family soon found themselves on the street, living from odd jobs and living in a homeless shelter. A bitter, painful memory which Lena used to squeeze every bit of her anger out of as Magica instructed her on how to cast the shadow materializing spell. She was practicing on small objects like logs and trash cans and her first attempts were successful. Magica was satisfied, but told her that summoning her is going to be much harder and she instructed her to keep practicing with more and more massive objects step by step, until she can muster up enough energy for summoning a living thing.

For the next two days, Lena progressed well. She was mastering the spell almost perfectly, but when it came to summoning the shadow of an object that was massive enough to require the same amount of energy as Magica's, she found herself stuck. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't find the strength required to carry it out.

When she asked for her aunt's advice, she speculated that the emotions she was using weren't strong enough. She had to find a memory that made the anger she used to fuel her spell more intense. And as much as Lena hated to admit it, the one memory that was more intense than the one of her family losing their business and their home was one that she really didn't want to relive. But if Lena ever wanted to achieve their goal, she had no choice.

She stood in front of the large oak tree that she had been practicing with, took her talisman into her hand, raised the other one in front of her, closed her eyes and thought back to her most hated memory; the night her parents died.

They have been living on the streets for about a year when it happened. They were getting less and less odd jobs around the city and it showed. They were barely eating. Almost every bit of food they got their hands on they gave to their daughter. And no matter how much Lena insisted they eat too, her pleads fell on deaf ears. Lena went as far as threatening them that she'll stop eating if they don't eat more, but that didn't work either.

Then one day, Lena woke up between them. She found it strange that they were still asleep as they were usually up before her. She tried to shake them awake, but to no avail. Lena started to panic as she shook them more vigorously. Even after ten minutes she still refused to accept the reality of the situation. But eventually she had to accept it. Lena then did something she never did before and has never done since. She cried. She cried knowing that she had lost everything her home, her parents, her entire life. All because of one greedy man.

She couldn't tell how long she had been lying over their bodies on the cold, wet street. Crying her eyes out until there were no more tears left. She didn't know when it ended, or why did she get up. She didn't know what was the point of getting up. She didn't know what was the point of anything anymore. But she did anyway. She got up and left, wandering about Duckberg aimlessly. She didn't know where she was going. She didn't even care. She felt like a zombie.

And then she saw it. A poster of the man responsible for her life going to hell. A poster of Scrooge McDuck's company along with McDuck himself advertising new, extremely beneficial investments for the whole town for the sole purpose of making even more money for himself. To add insult to injury, Lena found that the building the poster was hanging on the wall of was the old shop her family was using for their tailor business, which was now also owned by Scrooge.

For Lena, that was the last straw. Something inside of her snapped. She ripped the poster off the wall and ripped it to shreds. As little shreds as she could. But that wasn't enough. She headed back to the alley where she and her parents were living in as of late to find their bodies still lying there. She reached into her dead father's pocket and pulled out his old match that he always kept with himself. This should have felt wrong, but Lena shrugged it off. 'It's not like he'll need it anymore.' she thought bitterly.

Next, she made her way to a gas station and stole a can of gasoline without anyone noticing. But even if they caught her, her she was far too long gone to care. She went back to the store and picked the lock open without triggering the alarm. Her time on the streets has taught her skills she never thought she'll need. She poured the content of the can all around the store, then walked outside, switched the lighter on and threw it in the open door.

The interior of the building immediately caught on fire. Lena watched with expressionless satisfaction as the entire place burned. She knew that this wouldn't even be a nuisance for the richest duck in the world, but for her, this sight was priceless at the moment.

As Lena finally finished reliving this indescribably painful memory, she opened her eyes to find herself standing in the same spot she did during the entire magical practice and she saw the oak tree she practiced on, with a perfect replica standing right next to it. She did it. She completely mastered the spell. But was it really worth it?

Magica was standing next to her, looking extremely satisfied. "Excellent work, Lena. You are now ready." she said. Lena smiled up at her, despite the horrors she just forced herself to do experience again.

"Thank you." Magica just smiled.

"Now go and rest. This training has taken everything out of you and you'll need every ounce of your energy tomorrow." and with that, she transformed herself back into Lena's shadow.

Lena still had trouble with putting herself back together. She just went through something that she was so desperately trying to repress into the deepest parts of her mind. The memory of her family's fate; living in the sewers like rats and starving to death on the streets like a pair of stray dogs. But on the other hand, reliving it somehow made the job she was supposed to carry out tomorrow easier. How many times she found herself brightening a rotten day she was having with the fantasy of throwing Scrooge into a cage, throwing her family in another cage and forcing him to watch them starve to death in that cage, shivering from the cold during the night like they had to on the streets. Sure, making Scrooge go through the same thing she had to won't bring her family back, but that was the only form of consolation she could possibly have.

The only thing she can thank Scrooge is that she met Magica. Immediately after the store completely burned down on that fateful night, Magica's shadow appeared in front of her out of the dying flames. Their negative feelings towards him connected them somehow. Though ironically, she was just one more family member Scrooge had taken from her. And that's how Lena's apprenticeship under her wings began.

As she went through the events of how she ended up with her aunt, she found out that she has returned to the same spot where she met Webby. The same spot where she usually hung out. She sat down and laid back against the wall as usual. She set her sight on Scrooge's company building across the water. Her eyes narrowed. How she wanted to burn the entire wretched thing to the ground like she did with that store on that night. Then she wanted to move on to McDuck Mansion and to the same to it, preferably with Scrooge inside. And then she wanted to dance on the ruins. Which was an amusing thought because Lena wasn't that much into dancing, but for the occasion of the fall of the McDuck empire, she was willing to make an exception.

She then heard a voice whispering into her ear. "Save these feelings for tomorrow, Lena. You will have your revenge. We both will." Though Magica's voice was far from soothing, it always did the trick for Lena. The girl finally gave in to her exhaustion, closed her eyes, leaned back against the wall and fell asleep. She was out so quickly that she didn't even see a dark shadow wrapping around her body to form a blanket like cover on the girl to keep her warm during the night.

Contrary to what many would think, Lena had no doubts about where her loyalties lie. Scrooge McDuck had destroyed her family. She will be more than happy to return the favor.


End file.
